Chip's blinking pupils

Anybody know if there's any special reason why Chip's pupils have a blinking effect? It is weird, and Chip is kind of a weird character (even more so on The Muppets, where he's finally given character development), but his appearance isn't too weird (could that be the point, one of the more normal-looking characters created for The Jim Henson Hour having a weird physical effect?).

I had thought Chip didn't even blink his pupils on The Jim Henson Hour, but then I watched his two scenes last night and saw that they did blink, though in both cases it happened when MuppeTelevision switched over to Gorilla Television, when there was some fuzzy static, making it a bit hard to make out. He wasn't seen much after those instances, but I wonder if the blinking eyes were done to make it appear as if the fuzziness of switching programs were making them disappear briefly on screen.

Probably done just as a way for Henson and co. to experiment with new puppets. Every character built for JHH had a unique style that was unlike what had been built for the Muppets in the past, and Chip was no exception.